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Levels of hydrocarbons and toxicity of water-soluble fractions of maritime fuels on neotropical invertebrates

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Abstract

Accidents involving fuels and oil spills are among the main sources of hydrocarbons to the marine ecosystems and often damage the biota. Diesel and bunker oil are two examples of fuels with broad application that release hydrocarbons to the aquatic environment and little is known about their toxicity on tropical organisms. This study aimed to assess the toxicity of the water-soluble fraction (WSF) of diesel and bunker oils to neotropical marine invertebrates. Commercial fuels were purchased for WSF extraction, analyzed for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and acute and chronic toxicity determined. The WSF analyzed contained varied levels of TPH and PAHs mixtures, especially low molecular weight PAHs; bunker WSF presented higher amounts of TPH and PAHs. Both WSFs tested produced significant mortality of the brine shrimp Artemia salina, affected the reproduction rate of the copepod Nitokra sp, and impaired the embryo-larval development of the mussel Perna perna and of the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus. In general WSF from diesel was more toxic to the organisms tested, but bunker WSF was more toxic to embryos of L. variegatus. Toxicity started from concentrations of 3% WSF, which can be environmentally relevant after an oil spill, indicating that marine biota may be adversely affected in short term.

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Acknowledgements

DCNS was funded by the undergraduate research program iGUi Ecologia. FCP is funded by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—CAPES (grant CAPES #88887.124100/2016-00). LBM was funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP; grant number 2013/15482-0), and DMSA was funded by National Council for Scientific and Technological Development—CNPq (grants #311609/2014-7 and #308533/2018-6). RAL was also funded by CNPq (grant #308136/2020-9).

Funding

This study was funded by the program iGUi Ecologia, the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—CAPES (grant CAPES #88887.124100/2016-00), the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP; grant numbers 2013/15482-0 and 2020/00068-8), and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development—CNPq (grants #311609/2014-7 and #308533/2018-6).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Núcleo de Estudos em Poluição e Ecotoxicologia Aquática (NEPEA), Câmpus do Litoral Paulista da Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), São Vicente, SP, Brazil

    Debora Cristina Nascimento de Santana, Fernando Cesar Perina, Lucas Buruaem Moreira & Denis Moledo de Souza Abessa

  2. Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo (IO-USP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Rafael André Lourenço & Josilene da Silva

  3. Instituto do Mar, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (IMar/UNIFESP), Santos, SP, Brazil

    Lucas Buruaem Moreira

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  1. Debora Cristina Nascimento de Santana
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  2. Fernando Cesar Perina
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  3. Rafael André Lourenço
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  4. Josilene da Silva
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  5. Lucas Buruaem Moreira
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  6. Denis Moledo de Souza Abessa
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Contributions

Conceptualization: DMSA; Methodology: DCNS, FCP, LBM; Formal analysis and investigation: DCNS, FCP, LBM, JS, RAL; Writing - original draft preparation: DCNS, FCP, LBM; Writing - review and editing: RAL, DMSA; Funding acquisition: DCN; Resources: DMSA, RAL; Supervision: DMSA.

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Correspondence to Denis Moledo de Souza Abessa.

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de Santana, D.C.N., Perina, F.C., Lourenço, R.A. et al. Levels of hydrocarbons and toxicity of water-soluble fractions of maritime fuels on neotropical invertebrates. Ecotoxicology 30, 2109–2118 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-021-02486-3

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